Sunday Alternative Programming

We are hosting Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength Seminar and all normal in-house group classes are cancelled, including open gym. We are offering three track workouts located at the Red Hook running track. If you are not already signed up, please check the availability of each class HERE.

Your group class membership will apply for any of these classes.

10am Track WOD11am Track WOD12pm Track WOD

Running Training Tips from CFSBK's Endurance Program Coach

Last Sunday, Michael O. and the CFSBK Endurance Program crew tested their training by running the Brooklyn 15K. This was a well-timed event with the Brooklyn Half Marathon only a few weeks away. Michael shared a few notes about how their training has progressed, and we’d love to share those notes with all our runners, especially since he's co-organizing the Track WOD today with Coach Arturo!

Trunk Posture and Mobility: One of the initial things that the program tackled was making sure everyone was set up for success from pelvis to ribcage. Too often runners get obsessed with when their foot strikes the ground and the positioning of their arms (which are both also important to focus on eventually). But Michael says that if you first are picture-perfect in your trunk, everything else falls into place. The most important part of consistent running form is great pelvic and spinal stability, so the team worked for a few weeks on getting that all aligned.

Shorter Intervals with "Open" Form: “Before we start running big 800s and miles, we need to first make sure all the running muscles work and work together,” Michael explains. An often overdone mistake of endurance training is stacking miles on a 70-80% active muscular system. If you increase volume from 30 to 40 miles in a week, the increase usually comes with less muscle activation and thus overloads the imbalance. By letting runners hit a bunch of short "sprinting" type efforts with a big and open form (hills, neuromuscular efforts, shuttle runs), Michael’s crew did their best to get a 90-100% muscular activation for any muscle that helps you run... so, ALL OF THEM!!

Learn the True Meaning of Low-Intensity: Michael believes the most important piece of training is understanding that going all out plays a very small role in increasing one’s endurance (unless you’re heading to the Millrose Games next year). “When I ask our athletes how their run was after one of our full sessions and they say ‘not too bad,’ that's a great feeling as a coach,” he says. The idea is that not every run should leave you gassed and starving for air. Just as in CrossFit, you shouldn't walk away from every workout feeling like you blacked out. Michael encourages his endurance crew to hit their longer runs slowly but with great form, which improves their posture over time. If a runner spends all their time in a redline zone relative to capacity, that runner is much less likely to notice or have the strength to improve their form.

Slowly Integrating More Refined Skills: “About two to three weeks ago, our group was looking good enough that we could start thinking about smaller components of the running form,” Michael reports. Those pieces involve ankle placement and application, and hamstring usage and synchronization with the hip flexor. The group is now integrating some intricate drills into their training, which will slowly meld into their form.

Reader Comments (20)

I recently purchased a new sofa for upstairs office and need to get rid of the one we've currently got up there. It's an Ikea sofa (discontinued model I believe) with a removable and washable cover. It's in good condition.

Picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cfsbk/14021150862/

It's dimensions are:6' width34" Depth26" Height

If anyone wants it they can come check it out and take it home, first come first serve. Whoever wants it will be responsible for removing and transporting it. It's quite light though and two people can easily take care of it.

If you want to inquire about it you can just ask the Front Desk to check it out at your next class or email them at cfsbkfrontdesk(at)gmail.com

10 AM Red Hook Track WOD with MattyChm and his mini-me kid, C-Hart, Strong Laura, and lots of others. 15:42 on the WOD -- I really thought I was going to be the last in my group to finish when I saw who else was in my group (a bunch of dudes!), so I'm pretty pleased that I wasn't.

Dropped in at Virtuosity (bc what were the chances id go 2 days without lifting???)

Let it be known that eating one meal, standing around drinking beer from 4-12, and then eating a slice of pizza at 12am does not result in feeling fresh for a productive training session the following day. SURPRISING, i know.

Snatch220231242x1x5 (missed the 4th)220x2x2**Felt slow and terrible. Also, the platforms in the back of the gym were terribly lit and i found lifting in the near dark very disorienting.

Reallly happy to see such a great bunch of sessions today, from the morning crew all the way through noon. The biggest surprise to me was that no one swore at Arturo or me that we could hear, and also riding my bike to the food trucks afterwords and NOT seeing a single person there! That was a shocker to me, guess 800s and burritos don't mix 100%.

This day gave new meaning to the term Sunday Funday! I ran down to the nooner at the Red Hook Track and Arturo and Michael O made it a very fun one. You seriously couldn't beat the scenery, the weather (or the company). Michael O you didn't see me at the Food Trucks cause I was still cashing it out over at IKEA. After that I got a goat taco over at the trucks and some horchata (very good post running drink!). Good times!

Thank you, Michael O and Ro for that track WOD...'tis true, I felt pretty spent after just the warm-up. And then the squat burpees sandwich - with two slices of 800s - was quite hard, but a great wake-up call on my running fitness right now. Plus, our 11 am class was stacked with some impressive all-rounders!

I look to practicing the Matrix stretch around my neighborhood in a superhero costume, or in my living room - a great add to my needed Psoas stretching.

Thanks for an awesome session Michael O. and Ro! Feeling sore from two days worth of running now haha. Great noon session, finished in 15:50. Half full burpees and half squat thrusts with the worms on the ground as Ro said 'be one with nature!'

Yesterday 9am in the park was pretty fantastic. It was cool to do something different and out of the comfort zone. Thanks Melo for running a great class.

Thought I'd try a jog in the park this morning when I woke up at 6am and couldn't fall back to sleep. I've been trying to do things that are completely unlike myself and see how it goes. I was probably giving up on my first lap as the Foxes were rounding their second... Credit for trying?

More like my usual self, I went to a yoga class tonight that was intense in all the best ways, so at least that was a success.

Loved all the fresh air this weekend, but I'm ready to lift some weights again.

I mentioned to a friend the other day how much fish oil I take and he referred me to some articles on the link between fish oil and prostate cancer. I for one am going to stop taking it until i do some more reading and or more studies come out.